These two could be the two battling it out for the majority of this years AL offensive leaders. Which brings us to, who's the better hitter Adrian Gonzalez or Jose Bautista? Here's a few stats that i've put together to compare so far in the 2011 MLB season...

A-Gon Jose Bautista

HR: 9 13

RBI: 34 23

BA: .325 .358

2B: 13 7

H: 52 39

RISP: .367 .200

2ORISP: .529 .273

SO: 27 19

BB: 12 35

IBB: 3 2

BOLD = leader between the 2

BOLD & ITALIC = league leader

Bautista does lead the lead in homeruns, BA and walks between the two, but Gonzalez's stats that might make him more valuable to his team is his nack for the clutch situations. He's hitting almost 200 points higher than Jose with RISP and nearly 300 points with 2 outs and RISP thats a very important aspect of the game that has really payed off early on with 34 RBI's accumulated by Gonzo with Bautista at 23 despite 13 homeruns... My pick is definetly A-GON !!

So it's you're call now who would you rather have on you're team Adrian Gonzalez or Jose Bautista?

A no brainer, Gonzo. Bautista is a juicer! Prior to his "breakout yr" in 2010 w/54 hrs, his previous high was 16 w/the Pirates in 2006. He currently is on pace to hit 65-70 hrs. Must be the water in Toronto! He's nothing more than the AL version of Barry Bonds, perpetuating a farce. I don't go to any gms or watch MLB of TV since the steroid scandal we all suspected existed in MLB was confirmed. Bautista is just another in the long line of Dominican Dandies juiced to the hilt. People who deny that he's not juicing also probably believe pro wrestling is real.

A no brainer, Gonzo. Bautista is a juicer! Prior to his "breakout yr" in 2010 w/54 hrs, his previous high was 16 w/the Pirates in 2006. He currently is on pace to hit 65-70 hrs. Must be the water in Toronto! He's nothing more than the AL version of Barry Bonds, perpetuating a farce. I don't go to any gms or watch MLB of TV since the steroid scandal we all suspected existed in MLB was confirmed. Bautista is just another in the long line of Dominican Dandies juiced to the hilt. People who deny that he's not juicing also probably believe pro wrestling is real.Posted by MarylandFan

Clearly he is taking one of those drugs that doesn't actually make him bigger, since he is pretty much the same size as he was when he hit 16...

A no brainer, Gonzo. Bautista is a juicer! Prior to his "breakout yr" in 2010 w/54 hrs, his previous high was 16 w/the Pirates in 2006. He currently is on pace to hit 65-70 hrs. Must be the water in Toronto! He's nothing more than the AL version of Barry Bonds, perpetuating a farce. I don't go to any gms or watch MLB of TV since the steroid scandal we all suspected existed in MLB was confirmed. Bautista is just another in the long line of Dominican Dandies juiced to the hilt. People who deny that he's not juicing also probably believe pro wrestling is real.Posted by MarylandFan

Sorry to disagree, but first I'm a white Caucasian and not a Dominican, but I take extreme exception to your racist remarks. Maybe they are not intended to be racist, but they sure sound like it. Secondly, all MLB players are tested randomly for drugs and his manager has come out and said he was tested, so unless you've absolute proof you need to back down a bit.

I'm not saying that Bautista isn't using HDH. His sudden surge in power does bring up a red flag, but until something conclusive can be proven the man is innocent until proven otherwise.

As for who I choose, it has to be Agon, and only because he's the proven player over a longer time span.

Gonzo. No doubt he will be the RBI leader come years end. With a red hot ellsbury and pedey in front of him, and CC when he gets going in the later part of the game. We could be looking at alot of games 1, 2, or 3 nothing in the first this year Relaxing pitchers with an early cussion, and energizeing the other batters. Oh and did I mention Hes a 2 tim GG winner where as bautista.....not even close.

It's hard not to be suspicious of Bautista. To go from 13 to 54 HRs between ages 28 and 29 is strange enough. If he duplicates the task, and he adds 100 points to his career batting average at age 30, how can you look the other way?

AGon IS the future for this club. a complete total fit for the boston redsox and fenway park..........kinda reminds me of another really good total fit for fenway who happens to be sitting in NY and longing for the days when he was in left field with us. poor Jason! you and Nomahhh should have realized that you had it really good here.........but alas you did't....and fortunately, Agon does and is going to flurish here big time.

It's hard not to be suspicious of Bautista. To go from 13 to 54 HRs between ages 28 and 29 is strange enough. If he duplicates the task, and he adds 100 points to his career batting average at age 30, how can you look the other way?Posted by slomag

Boston has a similar case, do you remember the David Ortiz of Minnesota?

In Response to Re: Gonzo or Bautista? : Boston has a similar case, do you remember the David Ortiz of Minnesota?Posted by carpin

Not really - Ortiz hit 18 HRs in 347 ABs for the twins in 2001 at age 25. Going to a hitters park with more protection and twice the at-bats in the prime of his career, it's not surprising he would average 40 HRs / year. He also hit .270 - .280 with the Twins.

Compare that to Bautista, who up until last year, at the age of 29, had never hit more than 16 HRs in a season. He's played in the same park as he had the previous year (13 HRs) and with generally the same lineup around him.

Good and logical post slomag. In the 2009 season going into Sep., Bautista had only hit 3 hrs. Magically he hit 10 in Sep. and next yr he hits 54. and of course he denies using PEDs or anything else just like all the other disgraced users who have been outed. I've lost interest in this once great sport and I'm looking forward to the Pats.

If every player who suddenly explodes with HR power is on steroids, why doesn't anyone ever suspect the old records, the ones fans get upset about being broken by steroids?

Let's face it, Roger Maris was no Babe Ruth before he broke that record. He topped the 30HR mark three times in 12 seasons, 1960 (39), 1961 (61), 1962 (33). Any of those numbers look just a wee bit out of place? And Maris played for 12 years - these are the only 3 where he topped 29 HRs. Heck, in 1959, two years before he broke the record, Maris hit all of 16 HRs. Yet within 2 seasons he managed to reveerse those digits? Suspicious? He HAD to be using steroids, and was not going to let a little thing like them not being discovered yet stand in his way. After all, how could MLB test him for something that did not exist?

So, why wasn't Maris juicing or doing whatever? Any player nowadays improves and suddenly he "has to be cheating" and zero are free from suspicion or internet-fueld accusations. But no one ever looks to see that sometimes these changes are not as far out of line as they think they are.

In Response to Re: Gonzo or Bautista? : Boston has a similar case, do you remember the David Ortiz of Minnesota?Posted by carpin

It would be disingenous not to be suspicious of both.

Papi hit 38 over his lat 715 ABs with MN, before age 27. You wouldn't be surprised with 35+ HRs, though 54 is certainly suspicious for any player. Bautista, OTOH, never exhibited more than maybe 30 HR potential, and exploded for 54 at age 29, and has 67 HRs in 678 ABs over the past two seasons. That's one HR every 10 ABs. I don't think this guy is Babe Ruth.

If every player who suddenly explodes with HR power is on steroids, why doesn't anyone ever suspect the old records, the ones fans get upset about being broken by steroids? Let's face it, Roger Maris was no Babe Ruth before he broke that record. He topped the 30HR mark three times in 12 seasons, 1960 (39), 1961 (61), 1962 (33). Any of those numbers look just a wee bit out of place? And Maris played for 12 years - these are the only 3 where he topped 29 HRs. Heck, in 1959, two years before he broke the record, Maris hit all of 16 HRs. Yet within 2 seasons he managed to reveerse those digits? Suspicious? He HAD to be using steroids, and was not going to let a little thing like them not being discovered yet stand in his way. After all, how could MLB test him for something that did not exist? So, why wasn't Maris juicing or doing whatever? Any player nowadays improves and suddenly he "has to be cheating" and zero are free from suspicion or internet-fueld accusations. But no one ever looks to see that sometimes these changes are not as far out of line as they think they are.Posted by notin

No way - bad example. Maris hit 39 HRs at the age of 25, and was on pace to hit 46 at the age of 28, but was shut down by injuries. If he had stayed healthy and productive throughout his career, we probably would be talking about him as a career HR leader. 61 was an outlier for him, but represents a 30 - 50 percent increase in your expectations of him. And the fact that he did it at 26 means you are comparing him to previous years when his talent had not yet been completely realized.

Bautista is producing at 300 - 400 percent what he did prior, and is doing it at age 29 (last year), when he should have been very much the complete sum of what he could be as a player. And early indications are it's not an anomoly - he's doing it again at age 30, and now (though early) he's added 100 points to his batting average. If there's an example in baseball history that even comes close, I'd love to hear it.

I think you would have to be crazy not to question bautistas use of steroids and/or HGH(which is undetectable and would not come up in the mlb's random drug tests). The guy just happens to to break out at the age of 29 for 54 homers when he had previously never even hit 20 in a season? And if you look at him now as oppsed to earlier on in his career he is bigger. Not like bonds but he is bigger. I dont care what you do to your swing mechanics, your not going to jump from a .240 hitter who avgs about 13 homers a year to a .350 hitter who is on pace to hit 70 or so homers after hitting 54 last year. And honestly even if the mlb says he passed his drug test, would they admit it if he failed? Think about the results of the league announcing that there league leader in homers last year failed a drug test after all the steriod crap that happened the past couple years with the mitchell report and the few big name players who admitted to using steroids. Would it not be alot easier to say that he passed? I just dont buy the whole "i changed my swing mechanics" as the reason why he has had such a drastic change in his home run production.

In Response to Re: Gonzo or Bautista? : It would be disingenous not to be suspicious of both. Papi hit 38 over his lat 715 ABs with MN, before age 27. You wouldn't be surprised with 35+ HRs, though 54 is certainly suspicious for any player. Bautista, OTOH, never exhibited more than maybe 30 HR potential, and exploded for 54 at age 29, and has 67 HRs in 678 ABs over the past two seasons. That's one HR every 10 ABs. I don't think this guy is Babe Ruth.Posted by Joebreidey

In Ortiz's best season with MN (HR-wise) he hit 18 HRs in 303 ABs. That's one in 16.83 at-bats. In his best season with the Sox, he was about one in 10. Bautista's best HR season prior to last year was back in 2006 when he hit one in 25. That's a long way back and huge difference. You can suspect them both if you want, but at least suspect them proportionately.

Slomag, isn't it boring around here lately. Where are all of the trash talkers / trolls that you love in order to liven things up that you desire?. The forum subsists on trash talkers / trolls. Am I right?